You know those times when you meet someone, and you just can’t stop running into them? I’m going through that.

I met Troy again. I don’t know if he’s following me or if it’s just some weird fate, but this time, I was with Steve. He looked at Steve in a funny manner when he bumped into us, but smiled and asked: “You must be his human friend?”

“Yeah, I am,” Steve spoke in a cool manner. It was a definite coolness I could never muster. I was so hopeless and could never do anything right. Even speak to Troy in a calm manner. Steve really helped me feel better at that moment, though. He went on to tell Troy “He’s one of my best friends, and I’m really lucky to have him with me. He feels like family and he’s one heck of a creeper.”

It meant a lot my friend felt this way about me. It made me feel confident through our friendship, but then… I was in front of Troy.

“Yeah, he was always different,” Troy chuckled, “We studied in school together, and he was always standing out. I had real fun with him.”

Fun. Is that what he thought? I was speechless for a while before blurting out, “I wasn’t fun!”

Never meant to say it out loud. Steve and Troy looked a little startled. Troy turned his head down and chuckled a “Well; I suppose I thought you were.”

There was an awkward silence. I wanted to move, but Steve just stood there. Troy, while still looking down, said “Do you want to hang out for a bit? You know, when you’re free? Like tomorrow maybe? I was getting together with a few friends. You know, catching up on some fun. Around evening. You can come along if you’d like.”

The question was directed at me. There was no denying it. He was asking me whether I wanted to hang out with him. We’ve never hung out. Why would he want to hang out when he still thinks I’m weird? I would probably just give him another reason to make fun of me. My clumsiness hasn’t changed over the years.

Just last week I sneezed and exploded a side of Steve’s castle. I’m lucky Steve loves to build so much. And that’s the thing; my friends are understanding. They don’t fault me for being clumsy. I don’t know how Troy would react if I did something like that. I can’t hang out with him. I just can’t. It would just be like reliving through the mess school was.

“I… I need to hang out with Steve tomorrow.” That was the only excuse I could think of. It probably did seem like an excuse, but no matter. Not like Troy actually wanted me to be there. He always said like how I was no fun. That I bored him when he came to play. In all honesty, Steve and I hadn’t planned on spending the day together. We all usually met up and were going to, but there was nothing stopping me from actually hanging out with Troy. Except Troy himself, that is. It wasn’t as though he’d really miss catching up with me. Anyways I knew even without an agreement; Steve would back me up, and he surely did.

“Yeah, I need his help with some building.” You could also count on Steve.

“Ah, alright.” His words actually sounded a little disappointed. It made me feel bad, but this was for the best. I probably would’ve done something embarrassing had I went with him.

“I better get going then,” he had said before turning towards his destination, “See you at your party.”

His last line turned me speechless again. He had left, but I felt like he also took my birthday’s excitement away with him. I wanted to enjoy my birthday my friends, and I had planned for weeks now. We were talking about all the things we were going to do, all the crazy fun memories we’ll make. I always felt so different around Troy, and this wasn’t something that made me look forward to my birthday. Even my friends might see how pathetic I was in front of Troy if he came. But there was nothing I could do…

Steve began to say something, but was interrupted when Felicia’s voice came from behind, “Why’re we standing outside?”

And that was the end of that entire scene. We all went inside Steve’s house and were joined by Charlie. They all discussed how amazing the waterpark would be, but I couldn’t get myself excited anymore. Troy’s appearance wasn’t something I wanted.

This is awful. I really never thought this would happen. But on the other hand, how could it not? I never moved. I should’ve expected this to happen, but why now of all days?

I truly love the friends I have. They make me laugh. They care about me and encourage me. They’ve been one of the best things to happen to me. All of them. But I didn’t always have such people around me. I truly cherish them and don’t ever want to lose them. But he’s back. Troy is back.

I was walking with Charlie and discussing all the rides I wanted to take with him when we’re at the waterpark.

“Long time no see,” an unfamiliar voice said to me. But as soon as I turned around, I wish I hadn’t.

“Troy…” I said slowly. There was nothing else I could think about saying. He looked the same as he had in school. A big, green Creeper with deep dark eyes and the same confident grin he always had. There was no mistaking it. Troy was standing in front of me. In front of my friend. And there was nothing I could do about it.

“How have you been?” he asked, a little too cheerfully. There was an edge to his voice which unnerved me. It was the same sweetness he used in front of others before. When he told the teachers how I had cheated off of him.

I replied with a “Fine, and you?” I didn’t want to create a scene in front of Charlie. Charlie and my other friends did not know about Troy and everything he had done. Even though I shared a lot with my friends, I didn’t want to relive this part of my past with them. It was just embarrassing. And in the past. I had intended to keep it that way. After all, it would never interfere with my present life, right?

“Who’s this?” asked Troy looking over to Charlie. I smiled and introduced the two. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but there was nothing else that could be done. After all, we just met after all these years, and there’s nothing more to it. Being polite was the right thing to do here. We were going to go our separate ways, and that would be that.

“Oh, I heard you made some non-Creeper friends… Some Minecraft humans as well. You were always a strange one,” he commented in a peculiar, disinterested tone.

“Yeah, they’re really great. I love my friends. They’re amazing, and they really support me through everything. I’m so lucky to have friends like them,” things just spilled out of my mouth. I didn’t intend to speak any of that. Not to him. But I couldn’t resist telling him how important my friends were to me.

“That’s good to know,” Troy smiled and said the last thing I wanted to hear from him. “So, you’re going to the waterpark, huh?” His question left me dumbfounded. I didn’t know what to say and just kept quiet. Charlie replied for me instead, “Yeah, you should come as well. We’re all meeting up on the 5th around 4.”

Troy seemed a little confused but looked into my eyes before replying with a “For sure. I’ll be there.”

I can’t believe I’ll be meeting Troy again. This wasn’t how my birthday was supposed to go. I can’t blame Charlie; he doesn’t know the kind of person Troy is, and I hadn’t explained to him everything that happened.

What can I tell my friends anyway? Troy had been in my school and my already brief time there was made quite difficult by him.

On one of my first days, my parents found that taking the Minecart Train to school might help me adjust to the creeper environment, and I might make a few friends. The day I joined the cart proved otherwise. I had a bucket of milk that my mother gave me for lunch; and while I was getting off of the train, my leg caught on one of the Minecarts, and I fell over. Spilling the entire bucket on Troy and another female creeper. The girl had forgiven me as I apologized, but I had completely drenched Troy in milk. He couldn’t forgive me that easily. He told me I needed to properly apologize to him. I made him look bad. It was my mistake for being so clumsy.

He made me sit near him every Minecart ride to school and always made fun of me for being interested in non-Creeper things. He said he was my friend, but I didn’t feel like one. I really did try to be his friend. I tried to keep him happy and be fun around him, but nothing was enough. I always felt bad. Everyone told me he was just trying to be my friend, and I need to be more patient. I did try, or at least I did think I was. But I was just an awkward kid. Still am in a lot of ways.

To be honest, I don’t think I was his friend ever. Especially if you look at my current friends. They’ve never talked to me the way he had. They never poke fun at me and make me feel bad. My current friends showed me a completely different side of friendship than the one he did. I much prefer that side. He said I’d make it up to him if I finished up his homework, but it was never good enough. He’d actually call me in front of his friends to make fun of how bad I was at being a traditional creeper. How could I tell my current friends how much I messed up around him?

I even started walking to school without telling my parents. It was great being out in the open for a while—away from all the creepers—but Troy started following me with his friends and asked me to scare non-Creepers we encountered on the day. I never did, but I could never stop him from doing so. I left him behind as I left behind the school and all the memories associated with that place. I couldn’t tell Charlie all this. Nor the others, especially after I arrived at Steve’s later that day.

I did want to cancel the waterpark trip. Maybe staying at home for a birthday wouldn’t be so bad. After all, I just needed my friends around me to have a blast. But everyone was so excited about the trip. Steve had built us a boat to ride down waterfalls; Felicia was finding ingredients to make a large cake and Charlie was just generally excited about it. I couldn’t cancel it now. Everyone was looking forward to it so much. Maybe Troy was just being nice and friendly towards Charlie. Maybe he won’t really show up. Why would he, right?

Two years ago, my birthday was such a ride. I really thought everyone had forgotten all about it. None of my friends mentioned it. In fact, they pretended March 6th was just an ordinary day, even though I did try to give them hints. Charlie said he was going to be cooped up and sick for days; Felicia was out on an expedition and Steve said he’d be gardening that day. It really felt like they had forgotten. But I didn’t want to embarrass myself trying to remind them. What if they didn’t care? How wrong was I? I should’ve known better. My friends aren’t like that. I woke up with a map in front of me with a curious X marked on it and the words “There will be cake” on top. All of my friends had planned such a sneaky and amazing birthday party for me. It really brought tears to my eyes. I have such wonderful friends.

Last year, all of us went out on an adventure. Felicia had just come back from an expedition. I was really worried about her because you never know what might happen. Not all creepers are friendly towards Minecraft humans, and that’s just one of my worries. Though, I made sure she packed some extra baked potatoes. I would’ve made them myself, but lacking arms and hands does have a few cons which surface from time to time. Especially when it comes to cooking. Sunlight doesn’t burn, but no creature is safe from fire. So I nagged her until she put some in her bag.

It was important after all. She had to go out. Wolfie’s great, but sometimes he buries things without remembering where they are. And he does so discriminatorily. So when Felicia’s Book of Enchantment suddenly went missing, she only sighed and said: “Time to find another one.”

She burst in five days later with the biggest smile and a hearty “I know what we’re going to do on your birthday.”

I was just really happy to see her, but what she brought was really worth smiling about. Steve, who was building yet another story in his castle, ran over when Charlie told him what Felicia had brought home. This is huge, considering Steve loves nothing more than tinkering with his house to reach more awesome heights.

“Where’d you find it?” Steve inquired attempting to decipher the map.

“A stronghold near the eastern beaches,” she commented still enthused by her own achievement. Before she squealed with an excited “Do you see the X mark on it? We need to go! Who knows what treasures this cavern holds?”

She had already sold me on the plan. I would’ve gone with my friends even if there was no promise of treasure. Steve usually said their expeditions might not to be the most entertaining since they spend half their time in dark, scary caves. And like always, this time, was no different.

“We can’t,” he said, “As you say. We don’t know what really is present at that map.”

“Could be a pile of rocks,” Charlie joked not knowing how right he was until he got there. It was still heaps of fun, though.

Our friendship has only gotten stronger as the years went by and I’m so glad I have them around. Last year was literally a blast, but my friends are all out of tricks and fancy finds. They have decided not to let me stay in anguish this year and asked me how I wanted to celebrate my birthday with them. I could sit at home and have fun, but I do want all of us to make more memories. That’s why I picked going to a waterpark. After all, I’ve never gone to one before. Creepers usually don’t like mingling with non-Creepers and avoid such locations. They can only think about exploding themselves in front of others. If only they could have fun like non-Creepers do. Waterparks look like so much fun, I think. Really does seem that way from what Steve and Felicia are talking about.

I’ve been outside of waterparks several times – looking in at what others are doing. It’s filled with screams, but not of fright. Not the kind people make when they see a Creeper; but one that’s more excited. More joyful. I want to scream like that, especially with my friends. Steve says I’ll explode on one of their fast rides while Felicia bets I’ll explode just from excitement a day before. But I really don’t care how much I explode as long as I get to have fun on my birthday with my friends.